Taiwanese musical group

Tuesday, October 7, 2008

Power Station is a Taiwanese rock band, formed by two brothers. Their music is characterized by their fast-paced rock ballads, as well as their electrifying rock anthems. Their looks and long hair stand out from the mainstream Chinese pop scene because of their resemblance to typical western Heavy Metal musicians. In 2001, Power Station released their only album on the Grand Music label , ''Walking along Jhonghsiao East Street Nine Times''. The title track of that album won the Silver Award for Best Mandarin Song at the 24th RTHK Top Ten Golden Song Awards.

New Formosa Band is a Taiwanese pop music ensemble. Its members include Chen Sheng and Huang Lianyu. They first became popular in 1992 and are important musicians in the genres of and New Taiwanese Song. They released several albums in the 1990s which blended traditional Taiwanese folk music with pop elements. The group sang in both the traditional style of Taiwanese song and in a more modern pop style, as well as employing the dialect of the Hakka people.

Nan Quan Mama is Taiwanese music group. The name literally translates as "southfist mother" which is a phrase in to explain having strength but at the same time, being gentle like a mother. They are closely tied with the popular music artist Jay Chou.

The members are Lara Veronin , Devon , Yuhao and Zhang Jie . Each of the members contribute to composing their songs, and also sing together in most of their songs, although some of their songs are composed and sung solely by one of the members, such as the song "Crystal Dragonfly" which was composed and sung by Lara. As of June 2006, they are the official spokespeople for Motorola in Taiwan.

Mayday The eighth track of their fifth album has a track called John Lennon where the band espouses its dreams to become the "Beatles of the Chinese World" and one day, to become better than them. Other diverse musical influences include the Irish band U2, the British band Oasis, the Japanese pop music artists Mr. Children, Sting as well as the Chinese rocker Wu Bai and China Blue.

In lyrics on recent albums, Ashin has alluded to several cultural icons notably the Chinese mythical monkey-god Sun Wu-Kong, Mickey Mouse, Superman, Neil Armstrong and Che Guevara. Ashin has also cited movies and novels as inspiration for his songs including "Viva Love" which was inspired by avant-garde Taiwanese director Tsai Ming Liang's 1994 movie, Vive L'Amour and the song "Armour" which was influenced by a Chinese drama 《孽子》and Haruki Murakami's novel, Kafka On the Shore.

History

Formation and Early Years : So Band

Mayday evolved from So Band which was formed by Ashin, Monster and the first drummer Qian You Da in 1995 while they were studying in The Affiliated Senior High School of National Taiwan . They were later joined by Masa and Stone, who were attending the same school. After graduation, the members went to different universities but continued to cut their teeth performing in pubs and eateries. They were also actively involved in promoting the growing rock music trend in Taiwan . In 1997, the band registered under the moniker Mayday who described them as "the ones who would usher in the sound of the future". In June 1998, they also released the Embrace《擁抱》 compilation album for which they took on most of the songwriting, production and recording duties.

In 1999, Guan You became the band's fourth drummer and they went on to release their first full-length studio album 《五月天第一張創作專輯》under Rock Records on July 7th, 1999. Their debut received critical acclaim and gained a following among the . It went on to move more than 300,000 copies, a considerable feat for a new band in the then pessimistic and saturated music industry. The tracks "Peter and Mary" 「志明與春嬌」and "Embrace" 「擁抱」 also caught on among the youth, and became the top songs in the KTV list. "Peter and Mary" was one of the top ten songs of the year according to the The Association of Music Workers in Taiwan . In fact, "Peter and Mary" has been acknowledged by Mayday's Ashin as the "song that brought them from the north of Taiwan to the south, allowing everyone to recognise Mayday." On the 28th of August, they held their first large-scale performance called "168 Performances 「第168場演唱會」," cementing their position as one of the rising bands in Taiwan.

Release of Viva Love and People Life, Ocean Wild :

The band's second album Viva Love 《愛情萬歲》was released 7th July, 2000. Sales of Viva Love exceeded their previous album, shifting more than 350,000 copies. Additionally, Viva Love won them the "Best Band" award at the 12th Golden Melody Awards . Mayday also held a series of concerts called "Ten Thousand Youths Standing Up" in Taipei City, Zhang Hua and Gaohsiung City. The concerts were famous for having the most concert-goers in 2000.. They also released an accompanying soundtrack.

After Masa's official release from the military, the band regrouped and made a return to the music industry. To mark the event, Mayday held their City of the Sky 「天空之城」 concert on the 16th of August 2004 at the Taipei Stadium . The concert attracted nearly 400,000 fans which broke the record for most concert-goers at a concert, a record previously held by Michael Jackson.

On the 11th of November 2003, the band also released their 4th studio album Time Machine 《時光機》. Sales of the album hit more than 15,000 within two days , with Mayday seeing no decline in their popularity despite their hiatus. The Time Machine also won Mayday their second "Best Band" award at the 15th Golden Melody Awards.

In the summer of 2004, Mayday also participated in the making of an accompanying soundtrack for the movie 《五月之戀》in which they also presented new arrangements of some of their old songs. Guitarist Stone also had a supporting role in the movie.

5th of November 2004 saw the release of their critically acclaimed 5th studio album God's Children Are All Dancing/Flying Angels With A Falling Soul 《神的孩子都在跳舞》. This album used the simultaneous recording technique to create the distinctive "band" sound of their past albums and was specially recorded in Kawaguchi-to, Japan. In 2005, they also released a best of compilation album Just My Pride ，which included six new songs and favourites culled from previous albums.

Final Home Concerts :

Near the end of 2004, Mayday embarked on an ambitious worldwide series of concerts called Final Home - When We Are All Together「Final Home 當我們混在一起」. This took them round the world to America, China, Singapore, Malaysia, Hong Kong and Japan. The concerts lasted for six months until early 2006. A compilation of live performances from those concerts were released in a DVD-CD format and simply titled 《Final Home》.

Not content with performing on the ground, Mayday also took to the top of the Taiwan 101 building to perform. Called the "Nearest to the Sky Concert"/"Our Heads Reaching the Sky Concert" 「史上最接近天空演唱會」, Mayday performed at a height of nearly 390.6 metres from the ground.

Continuing the Dream :

Born to Love 《為愛而生》was released on the 29th of December 2006, with Mayday organising an autograph session lasting ten hours that became the first in 2007. In conjunction with their new album and sponsored by Le Tea, they also held Born to Love 《五月天 le power 天使，為愛而生新歌演唱會》 concerts around Taiwan. Tickets to these concerts were packaged within the first edition of the Born to Love albums, and fans formed lines overnight in order to get their hands on the actual tickets that allowed them entrance into the concerts. Mayday played a total of 12 concerts, and the best performances are compiled into a DVD that was packaged with the third edition of the Born to Love album.

2007 also saw the release of Jump! 《離開地球表面》, which included several new songs, live performances from the concert tour of the same name and the promotional tune Going Crazy 《抓狂》 for the video-game Halo 3. Included also is a duet with singer Cheer Chen, Elope to the Moon《私奔到月球》. Not to be outdone by the previous year, Mayday held a concert 《突然很想見到你》on January 1 of 2008 that lasted from 1:00 AM to around 6:00 AM.

Presently, Mayday are in the midst of their Returning to the Surface of the Earth 《回到地球表面》 concerts. They have also begun planning for their 8th studio album, which is slated to be released in the later half of 2008.

Collaborations

Ashin's Collaborations

On his own as a songwriter and lyricist, Ashin has worked with Wang Lee Hom on his Heroes of the Earth album. He has also written for various other artistes including Fish Leong, Aska Yang on the song Onion, Angelica Lee, Jolin Tsai, Sandee Chen and . Vocals-wise, he has collaborated with Stefanie Sun twice on Mayday's 4th album Time Machine and on the upbeat track First Day which also included F.I.R. He has also dueted with Cheer Chen on the song 'Eloping to the Moon.' A visual arts and design student in high school, Ashin has also dabbled in the design area, working notably with graphic designer No2good on a line of T-shirts by the name of Stay Real and designing a dogtag player for BenQ Music's Player. As an author, Ashin has released two books called Happy.BIRTH.day which he called a "book of rock poems" and his latest book Escape to Japan , which is a travelogue reflection on Japan.

Other Members' Collaborations

The other members of Mayday have also worked with other artistes mainly in the areas of songwriting and producing. Masa and Monster have helped with songwriting and instrument playing duties on tracks by fellow Rock Records artistes Fish Leong, Victor Huang and Ding Dang. Both Monster and Stone have also produced albums, notably Monster for Ding Dang's debut album and Stone for Victor Huang's 2007 album.

Lollipop is a Taiwanese Mandopop boyband signed under EMI Music, Taiwan. The group consists of six members, all chosen from [[Channel V|Channel ]] Taiwan's show 模范棒棒堂 , a show which sought to create new male artists in the entertainment business of Taiwan. In addition to appearing in ''Bang Bang Tang'' regularly until September 2008, they debuted as show hosts with ''Lollipop! Gyashan'' of [[Channel V|Channel ]].

Lollipop signed with EMI Capitol Taiwan on December 2, 2006 and released their first solo EP in January 2007. With acquisition of EMI Music Taiwan, Lollipop is now signed under the label Gold Typhoon. The sextet currently live together in an apartment rented to them by ''BBT'' show host in Taipei, having moved several times since their debut. Under company regulations, they are not allowed to have guests or entertain the fans that sometimes gather outside their apartment. On occasion their neighbours have had to seek the police's help in dispersing the fans.

Members

Owodog

Stage Name:

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Height: 177cm

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Weight: 62kg

Blood type: O

Prince

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Height: 173cm

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Weight: 53kg

Blood type: O

LilJay/Brian

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Height: 174cm

Birthdate:

Weight: 60.6kg

Blood type: A

Fabien

Stage Name:

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Height: 172cm

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Weight: 60kg

Blood type: AB

William

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Height: 176cm

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Weight: 67kg

Blood type: O

A-Wei

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Height: 168cm

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Weight: 60kg

Blood type: Unknown

History

Background

Owodog, Liljay and A-Wei are members of Taiwanese breakdance group Black Angle Crew. Shortly after Owodog and Liljay joined ''Bang Bang Tang'', the crew peformed at 我愛黑澀會, the female version of ''BBT'' that debuted a year earlier on Channel V.

In 2006, Owodog, Prince, Liljay, and Fabien became among the first group of boys to be selected into ''Bang Bang Tang'' through recommendations and auditions held across Taiwan, the processes of which were shown in the show's first three episodes.
They are among the first 20 members of the show, as it officially debuted on August 17, 2006.
William and A-Wei made their first appearances on ''BBT'' on the October 13, 2006 episode as part of their auditions during the first round of new selections into ''BBT'' and were selected to become members of the show.

The formation of Lollipop

On November 27, 2006, the episode in which the six members of the group were selected and revealed was aired. The order in which the members were announced is as follows: Liljay, Prince, Owodog, Fabien, William, and A-Wei. Notably, William and A-Wei's inclusion in the group was determined only moments before the announcements were filmed. The members signed a contract to Channel V, and Dora Ao became their agent. The group, named Lollipop, then officially signed a contract with EMI Capitol on December 2, 2006. Owodog, being the leader in ''BBT'', was named the group leader as well.

Lollipop first EP ''Colorful Lollipop'' was released on January 26, 2007, with six different covers, each featuring a member of the group. Four months later, on May 25, a second EP titled ''Summer's First Experience'' was released along with a photobook compiled with photos taken in Okinawa, as well as a DVD. Lyrics were written by Liljay and Prince for the song "Summer's First Experience."

Acting and hosting debut

During the summer of 2007, Lollipop made their acting debut in the drama ''Brown Sugar Macchiato'', a collaboration with . Because of the large number of main characters, fifteen in total, and the many obligations both groups had apart from the drama, the original director quitted after directing five episodes. Nevertheless, the first episode was aired in Taiwan on July 15, 2007. Later, Lollipop admits on Kangxi Lai Le that the drama had been more of an introduction of the two groups instead of a major acting challenge, as the members were told to act like themselves, and that many subplots were explained only briefly due to the large number of main characters. After thirteen episodes, the drama ended on October 7, 2007. Additionally, an official soundtrack was released with songs from Lollipop and .

The same year, Lollipop began hosting their own show ''Lollipop Gyashan'' on October 27 until April 19, 2008, when the show stopped airing.

Official debut album

Their debut album ''Gyashan'' was released on December 28, 2007. ''Gyashan'' entered Mandarin charts in the number one position, outselling 's album ''Waiting for You - Await Your Love'' released the same day.

On January 26, 2008, a year after the release of their first EP, they held their debut concert at the Taipei Arena.
The concert DVD was released on June 6, 2008, breaking chart records with sales rates of more than 35%. Their DVD has topped the charts for a period of one month since.

After ''Bang Bang Tang''

Lollipop had been appearing regularly on ''Bang Bang Tang'' since August 14, 2006. With Channel 's decision to select a new batch of boys and create a second season, Lollipop and most of the other members "graduated" from ''Bang Bang Tang'' after their last performances as members of the show. Their last official episode aired on August 29, 2008, marking the end of the first season. In total, they had participated in more than 500 episodes of the show. Since the start of ''Bang Bang Tang II'', Lollipop has, on several occasions, returned to the show as guests.

In May, earlier the same year, A-Wei, Prince, and Fabien, part of the main cast, began shooting Lollipop's the second drama with members of and ''Bang Bang Tang''. The drama, called The Legend of Brown Sugar Chivalry, is a wuxia drama set in modern times, which requires the actors and actresses to learn and perform kungfu, sometimes using weapons. Additionally, wire fu and special effects were used upon the cast for qinggong and some fighting scenes. The first episode was released on July 26, 2008 on Star TV Chinese Channel and continues to be aired after the end of the first season of ''Bang Bang Tang''. Later, Owodog became a part of extended cast, while Liljay and William had minor roles.
On October 3, 2008, the original soundtrack was released, the songs of which includes lyric compositions from Liljay and Prince.

After talks with Paco Wong, the chairman of Gold Records, Owodog is reportedly going to be starring in a kungfu film with Theresa Fu and a member of The Flowers. According to recent news, the film is set to start filming near the end of Ocotber, 2008 in Beijing.

Prince and his brother, Mao Di, also a member of ''Bang Bang Tang'', will be part of the film "Ai Dao Di", which is composed of four short films directed by four different directors. The tentative release date is set on February 14, 2009, Valentine's Day

Overseas expansion

Hong Kong

Lollipop visited Hong Kong to promote their television soundtrack Brown Sugar Macchiato on the September 26, 2007.
This was their first overseas promotional activity ever since their debut, and a huge fan turnout caused a great commotion at the shopping mall where they were having their meet-and-greet session.
Lollipop returned to Hong Kong on Christmas to promote their debut album. On February 1, 2008 they traveled Hong Kong for the third time to guest star in the Cantonese movie ''Truth or Dare: 6th Floor Rear Flat 2'', and on the 23rd of the same month, performed at Show Luo's concert as guests. On June 1, 2008, the group also participated in a fundraising concert for the Sichuan Earthquake.

Mainland China

Lollipop visited Mainland China on the March 23, 2008, to promote their debut album. With over 3000 fans, the autograph session was canceled due to safety reasons, as the situation grew out of control. Thus, fans were able to catch only a few glimpses of the group. Nevertheless, Lollipop stayed at the venue and finished signing each album in a separate room.

Singapore

Lollipop traveled to Singapore on the June 12, 2008, to promote their concert DVD. There was only one autograph session held at a bar in Clarke Quay; thus, the organisers had to give out tickets to limit the amount of fans entering. However, due to the massive fan turnout on the day of the event, there were still more than 100 ticket holders who were banned from entering as the number of people exceeded the estimated amount. Additionally, there were more than 200 fans without tickets waiting outside the bar.

Discography

Albums

EPs

Original soundtracks

Concert DVDs

Variety shows

Dramas

Movies

Concerts

''This list does not include year-end galas or autograph/performance sessions.''

''*Indicates concerts where Lollipop was one of many groups and singers who participated.''

Endorsements

Awards

LTK Commune is a well-known "underground" band founded in 1990. Their music has been variously described as having elements of , , nakasi, Taiwanese folk songs. In recent years band members have self-consciously applied the label "Taik" to their music – a reference to the Taiwanese ''Taick'' subculture.

The ''LTK'' stands for "Loh Tsui Kweh", an idiosyncratic spelling of the name of the Choshui River in Taiwan, one that evokes nativist sentiments.

The two guitar players – Tsai Hai-en and Ke Jen-chien – share lead vocals. Both attended National Taiwan University but left school early. Between the two of them they have driven the band's evolution. The critic Malaite attributes the group's early grunge influence to Tsai. In addition to Western influences, both of them are, in their own ways, steeped in local, traditionally working class genres. There is also a bass player and a drummer.

LTK Commune's earlier music echoes the island's protest movements of the early 1990s. Earlier themes have consciously reflected concerns and sentiments. With the decline of street protests and the onset of political liberalization, socially-conscious themes have become less foregrounded. The band unabashedly supports Taiwan independence.

Their songs often express the frustration of the Taiwanese working class male. Unapologetically sexual or references and vulgar language are found in some songs, a characteristic embraced by the fans but found outrageous by some critics. Some critics detect a streak of male chauvinism, most notably in the song "Rape, Murder"; others consider the song as a study of the perverse psyche of a rapist-murderer.

Much of the lyrics are in the native Taiwanese language, a choice consistent with the language's working class base, as well as the anti-Kuomintang Opposition culture. Spoken monologues reminiscent of traditional melodrama are a favored device in their narratives.

LTK Commune's live performances are noted for their spontaneity and engagement with the crowd.

History

2003

This 5-man dance group, K One, was formed by Rio Peng, with his company ''Corvette Entertainment'' . However, K One did not do well with their first album; a very likely reason is that Peng did not wish to involve his own artistes with 5566, hoping that K One would make a name for themselves. Another possible reason is that there was already another popular dance group, Energy, in existence; due to this, few people were excited about the arrival of K One. However, Peng ultimately did place K One with Jungiery the following year.

2004

After K One was placed under Jungiery, they were soon put to act in the idol drama, ''Top on the Forbidden City''. This idol drama had a lead cast roster of Gino and JR, and Joanne from the girl group Sweety. To help up this drama's fame, Sam Wang from 5566 also played a supporting role in the drama, and the theme song for this drama, Twist The Fate, was a collaborated work by both 5566 and K-One. This strategy was once again successful; K One's fame rose sharply.